bhrtyanukampita-dhiyeha grhita-murteh

 sañcintayed bhagavato vadanaravindam

yad visphuran-makara-kundala-valgitena

 vidyotitamala-kapolam udara-nasam

 

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

The yogi should then meditate on the lotuslike countenance of the Lord, who presents His different forms in this world out of compassion for the anxious devotees. His nose is prominent, and His crystal-clear cheeks are illuminated by the oscillation of His glittering alligator-shaped earrings.

 

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

The Lord descends to the material world out of His deep compassion for His devotees. There are two reasons for the Lord’s appearance or incarnation in the material world. Whenever there is a discrepancy in the discharge of religious principles and there is prominence of irreligion, the Lord descends for the protection of the devotees and the destruction of the nondevotees. When He appears, His main purpose is to give solace to His devotees. He does not have to come Himself to destroy the demons, for He has many agents; even the external energy, maya, has sufficient strength to kill them. But when He comes to show compassion to His devotees, He kills the nondevotees as a matter of course.

 

The Lord appears in the particular form loved by a particular type of devotee. There are millions of forms of the Lord, but they are one Absolute. As stated in the Brahma-samhita, advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam: all the different forms of the Lord are one, but some devotees want to see Him in the form of Radha and Krsna, others prefer Him as Sita and Ramacandra, others would see Him as Laksmi-Narayana, and others want to see Him as four-handed Narayana, Vasudeva. The Lord has innumerable forms, and He appears in a particular form as preferred by a particular type of devotee. A yogi is advised to meditate upon the forms that are approved by devotees. A yogi cannot imagine a form for meditation. Those so-called yogis who manufacture a circle or target are engaged in nonsense. Actually, a yogi must meditate upon the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that has been experienced by the Lord’s pure devotees. Yogi means devotee. Yogis who are not actually pure devotees should follow in the footsteps of devotees. It is especially mentioned here that the yogi should meditate upon the form which is thus approved; he cannot manufacture a form of the Lord.